Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The hunt for K

One thing about our girl; We've never seen anyone so serious about play.

Hope approaches toys with an intensity rarely seen outside of "Rocky" movies. She dives in her Exersaucer like a lunch-bucket working stiff clocking in for another 8 hours and inspects her Happy Meal toys like a jeweler scrutinizing a ruby.

But Hopesy's devotion to toys is fleeting. For weeks, she'll absolutely adore her Dice-K doll or xylophone, giggling at the sight of them and lavishing them with her love. And then -- poof -- the spell has past and she's moving on.

The new objects of her obsession are foam letters. They're intended as bathtub toys, but we keep them in a bucket. Hope sits on the floor, purposefully rifling through the letters until she finds just the right one. She discards the Os and Ds until -- jackpot -- she uncovers the H, K or Z.

Eureka! The mother load! And now, the denouement, the final payoff: She plops the letter into her mouth, sucks on it for 5 minutes, laughing like mad, until, just like that, she's done and back to combing through the bucket for another prize.

Water toys are the best! Our kiddo played with his for years -- even to the point of wearing goggles and "diving" for them in the bathtub. I love watching the videos of Hope at play -- she's so focused.